I played RAMbots for the first time this week with Will, another first-timer. We did one round as a practice just to be sure both of us knew how the programming phase and execution phase worked, and then we started for real.

Since the goal stack for your opponent is made up of pieces from your own code-pool, picking which pieces to use for the goal stack is part of the strategy, too. I ended up using two small and two medium pieces, and Will used 4 medium pieces. When we got to execution phase, it meant that he was able to use small (higher precedence) pieces to get all his moves before mine, but once I started tagging goals, I had a lot of medium pieces to work with, a good balance between precedence and further movement.

On the first round, we were both going for targets furthest from our starting points, which meant we would intersect. I wasn't sure which way Will would try to go, so I went for the quickest route to tag the piece. When we revealed instructions, it turned out that he had programmed to try to move my target, plus a couple of attempted attacks and rams. Since he used mostly large pieces, I was able to move in and tag the target, but then got attacked once and lost a piece.

After that round, I was more cautious because I realized Will was playing offensively, and I tried to attack more, or take routes that would be less predictable. I tagged my second goal, and Will missed me.

I think the third round we both managed to hit each other a couple times, and then I tagged another goal. Then Will miscalculated where I would be, and managed to put himself in a corner, next to a beacon. For my next move, I used several small pieces to corner him, and then attacked, damaging him 3 times in one round. He did one damage to me, but then moved off to the side, because he hadn't expected me to come straight at him.

Finally, I had enough pieces to tag my last goal, and won the game.

We missed the fact that you could tag the opponent when he is the same color as your next goal, so neither of us took advantage of that.

I do see that in a 2-player game, it's easier to figure out tactics and there's only one other player to worry about. I'm interested in trying a 4-player game, just to see how the chaos plays out.

Seems like a fun game, but I'll hold a rating until I get to play some more.